Casey's fiscal 2026 net income rose 30.7% to $714.4M (diluted EPS $19.16, +30.9%) on 10.2% revenue growth, driven by an unusually high 42.6-cent fuel margin, 5.2% same-store prepared-food sales and a first full year of Fikes/CEFCO stores.
Revenue
$17.6B
+10.2% YoY
Net income
$714M
+30.7% YoY
Diluted EPS
$19.16
+30.9% YoY
Operating margin
5.9%
Overview
Casey's General Stores, the Iowa-based chain of about 2,900 convenience stores concentrated in small Midwestern towns, finished fiscal 2026 (the 12 months to April 30, 2026) with net income up 30.7% to $714.4 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS) up 30.9% to $19.16, on revenue up 10.2% to $17.56 billion. Profit grew three times faster than sales for two reasons. First, fuel profit per gallon jumped to 42.6 cents from 38.7 cents, which the company itself calls "historically higher than average". Second, the store-food business earned more on every dollar sold. This was also the first full year that includes Fikes/CEFCO, a chain of 198 stores plus a wholesale fuel business bought in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Fikes accounts for much of the revenue growth, but the profit gains came from the whole network.
One quirk of how Casey's reports: its income statement has no "operating income" line. In this report, operating income means income before income taxes plus net interest ($937.0 million + $96.6 million = $1,033.7 million). That is our own calculation from the filing's figures, not a number the company prints.
Key figures
Metric
FY2026
FY2025
YoY Change
Total revenue
$17,561.1M
$15,940.9M
+10.2%
Operating income (pre-tax income + net interest, derived)
$1,033.7M
$796.4M
+29.8%
Operating margin (derived)
5.9%
5.0%
+0.9 pts
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Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue: what is left from each dollar of sales after paying for goods, running the stores and depreciation, but before interest and tax. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) is a non-GAAP measure, meaning it is not defined by standard accounting rules. Casey's reconciles it to net income in the 10-K.
Takeaway: Fuel gross profit (fuel sales minus the cost of the fuel) rose $259.9 million, almost as much as the entire $283.6 million increase in EBITDA. Inside-store gross profit rose $286.9 million, and the $285.1 million rise in operating expenses absorbed nearly all of it. So the year's earnings jump rests mostly on a fuel margin that management itself calls unusually high. The inside business is still healthy: same-store food sales rose 5.2% and its margin widened. But if fuel margins return toward their historic level, a 30% EPS increase will not be repeatable.
Inside the store: food and grocery
Casey's calls food and grocery sales "inside sales", as opposed to fuel sold at the pump. Inside sales rose 10.2% to $6.34 billion. "Same-store" sales count only stores open for the whole of both years, so they strip out the effect of opening or buying new stores.
Prepared food and dispensed beverage (pizza, sandwiches, bakery, fountain drinks): revenue rose 10.2% to $1,776.8 million. The 10-K splits this into about 5.2% from same-store growth "driven by improved sales of hot sandwiches, bakery, and whole pizzas" and about 5.0% from new stores. The margin (the share of each sales dollar left after the cost of ingredients) rose to 58.6% from 58.2%, "driven primarily by improved waste": less food thrown out.
Grocery and general merchandise (packaged drinks, snacks, tobacco, beer): revenue rose 10.1% to $4,563.6 million. About 3.9% came from same-store growth, "driven by strong sales of non-alcoholic beverages", and about 6.2% from new stores. The margin rose to 35.8% from 35.0% on "a favorable product mix shift", meaning more sales of higher-margin items.
Combined inside gross profit (sales minus the cost of the goods sold) was $2,676.3 million, up 12.0%. That works out to an inside margin of 42.2%, up from 41.5%.
Per store: among stores open at least a full year, average inside sales rose to $2.20 million from $2.10 million, and average store-level operating income rose to $566,000 from $496,000.
Fuel: more gallons and a higher margin
Retail fuel revenue rose 8.6% to $10.62 billion. Gallons sold rose 10.0% to 3.52 billion, while the average pump price fell 1.3% to $3.02. The 10-K credits the gallon growth "primarily" to store growth, including the first full year of Fikes stores. Same-store gallons rose only 1.4%, which is still an improvement on +0.1% the year before.
The bigger story is the fuel margin: gross profit per gallon rose to 42.57 cents from 38.68 cents. Casey's says it and the wider fuel industry "experienced historically higher than average fuel revenue less cost of goods sold per gallon" during the year, "particularly in the last quarter", and warns that the measure "can fluctuate significantly, and sometimes unpredictably". Renewable fuel credits (RINs, which retailers earn for blending biofuels and can sell) contributed $35.4 million, up from $16.7 million.
Fuel gross profit rose 21.0% to $1,496.6 million, twice as fast as gallons. One caution when reading the fuel figures: fuel margin as a percentage of revenue (14.1%, up from 12.7%) partly rises because pump prices fell. The 10-K notes that this percentage moves inversely to fuel prices, so cents per gallon is the better measure.
Fikes/CEFCO and store growth
Fikes Wholesale (owner of CEFCO Convenience Stores) was bought in fiscal 2025's third quarter for $1,165.8 million. It added 198 stores plus a wholesale fuel network, meaning fuel supplied to dealer-run sites that are not counted as Casey's stores. Fiscal 2025 included only about six months of it. In fiscal 2026, the 10-K attributes $1,034.1 million of additional revenue to Fikes in the first six months of the year, before its first anniversary. That is about 64% of the year's $1,620.2 million revenue increase. The acquisition also explains why "Other" revenue, mostly wholesale fuel, jumped 47.9% to $605.3 million. The 10-K notes that wholesale fuel "carries a lower revenue less cost of goods sold as a percentage of total revenue", so it adds more to sales than to profit. Other revenue also includes a one-time $8.0 million gain from revising gift-card breakage assumptions (the share of gift-card balances expected never to be spent).
Store count went from 2,904 to 2,944 during the year: 40 newly built, 40 acquired, one previously acquired store opened, and 41 closed. Fiscal 2026 also ended Casey's three-year strategic plan. Over those three years it built or acquired 504 stores against a goal of 350, and diluted EPS grew at 17.2% a year.
Costs, interest and tax
Operating expenses rose 11.2% to $2,837.4 million, a little faster than revenue. The 10-K breaks the increase down as follows:
about 5 percentage points from running 40 more stores plus a full year of Fikes stores;
about 2 points from higher accrued bonus pay ("variable compensation due to strong financial performance") and charitable contributions;
about 1 point from same-store employee pay, where higher wage rates were "partially offset by a reduction in same-store labor hours".
The segment note shows same-store employee expense up 9.3% to $1,065.8 million and same-store credit card fees up 9.4% to $232.4 million.
Depreciation and amortization, the accounting charge that spreads the cost of stores and equipment over their useful lives, rose 11.5% to $450.0 million. Net interest rose 15.1% to $96.6 million, reflecting a full year of the $1.1 billion of debt raised to help pay for Fikes. The effective tax rate rose to 23.8% from 23.3%. The prior year had a one-time 0.7-point benefit from revaluing state deferred taxes after the Fikes deal, partly offset this year by larger tax benefits on employee share awards.
Cash and balance sheet
Cash generated by operations rose to $1,377.5 million from $1,090.9 million. Spending on property, equipment and acquisitions fell to $797.5 million from $1,745.5 million, because the prior year included the Fikes purchase. Casey's spent $200.5 million on share buybacks (up from almost nothing a year earlier) and $83.1 million on dividends. Declared dividends rose to $2.28 per share from $2.00. Long-term debt and finance leases stood at $2,431.6 million at year-end. After year-end, in June 2026, the board expanded the buyback authorization to $1.0 billion in total and declared a $0.65 quarterly dividend.
Outlook and the first quarter of fiscal 2027
Q1 FY2027 (three months to July 31, 2026, from the 10-Q filed September 8, 2026):
Metric
Q1 FY2027
Q1 FY2026
YoY Change
Total revenue
$5,678.3M
$4,567.1M
+24.3%
Net income
$273.7M
$215.4M
+27.1%
Diluted EPS
$7.37
$5.77
+27.7%
EBITDA (non-GAAP)
$485.1M
$414.3M
+17.1%
Fuel margin (cents per gallon)
47.8¢
41.0¢
+16.6%
Same-store fuel gallons
−0.3%
—
—
Same-store sales: prepared food / grocery
+4.8% / +2.7%
—
—
Stores at quarter-end
2,959
—
—
Most of the 24.3% revenue jump is price, not volume. The 10-Q says the average pump price per gallon was 33.0% higher than a year earlier, while gallons sold rose just 2.5%. Higher pump prices inflate revenue without adding much profit, which is why gross profit as a share of revenue fell to 21.8% from 24.4% even as profit rose. Earnings were again driven by fuel margin: 47.8 cents per gallon, which the 10-Q again calls "historically higher than average". Inside margin was roughly steady at 42.2%. The 10-Q says the improvement in the prepared-food margin (59.3%, up from 58.0%) partly reflects a change in how distribution costs are split between food and grocery, not purely a better underlying business. Operating expenses rose 8.0%, and net interest fell 17.8% on lower variable rates.
Fiscal 2027 guidance (from the company's Q1 earnings release, 8-K Exhibit 99.1 dated September 8, 2026, which says the outlook "remains unchanged"):
inside same-store sales +2% to +5%, with an inside margin above 42%;
same-store fuel gallons between −1% and +1%;
operating expenses up about 5% to 7%;
EBITDA up 8% to 10%;
at least 120 new stores through acquisitions and new builds;
net interest about $95 million, depreciation and amortization about $490 million, capital spending about $800 million, and a tax rate of 24% to 26%.
Our read: The guidance calls for EBITDA growth of 8% to 10%, well below the 23.6% of fiscal 2026. That is a reasonable base case, because fiscal 2026 benefited from a fuel margin the company itself describes as unusually high, plus the last months of Fikes being added on top of a smaller prior year. Q1 is already running ahead of that pace (EBITDA +17.1%), almost entirely because of fuel cents per gallon. The inside business is the more durable driver: same-store food sales have grown 5.2% for the year and 4.8% in Q1, with margins holding at about 42%. The main risks are, in order: fuel margins returning toward historical levels, flat-to-negative same-store gallons, and a higher tax rate (guided at 24% to 26%, against 21.1% in Q1).